"Mystic Aegis!" 

A soft azure light formed a barrier around us while the flames rained down. I flinched and shut my eyes but was surprised to find myself perfectly fine. No noises alerted me that I had met an untimely death. I opened my eyes to see the backside of a brunette-haired girl standing in front of me, arms outstretched. She dropped them to her side with a shaky breath. Further in the distance was the dragon, collapsed in a heap and wheezing. What kind of crazy spell was that? I'd played with high-leveled players before but had never seen a spell launch a boss clear across the map. 

How overpowered was this girl? 

The girl in question flipped around to face me, or more likely, to face the group. While her style was slightly different, it was undeniably Rika. I didn't recognize her at first with her long hair twisted into a single braid, and the top of her head covered in a pointy hat. Her oversized coat hung off her shoulders, hiding the otherwise exposed skin from wearing a tank top. 

Amelia removed herself from Ethan's embrace and asked the question on everybody's mind. "Rika, how'd you get here?" 

"I walked in, shoved a VR visor on my head, and joined your party that you left open over the school's wi-fi. More importantly, you all have some explaining to do." She swiveled around toward the dragon. "We'll save that for later though." 

"It should be in the final one of its phases after all the damage it took. Do you have any other big spells that could finish it off?" Ethan asked.

"I do, but it has a long casting time, so you'll have to protect me." 

That would be impossible. The creature had one-shot Nora without trying and could do the same to everyone in our party besides me. There was no way we would last. 

Rika must have understood that as well. "Only way we'll win is by sacrifice guarding." 

The other two solemnly agreed while Amelia scrunched up her brow. "What’s that?" 

I sheathed my broadsword, knowing I'd be running around shortly. "It means we're all the bait now." 

Ethan took the lead on our plan. "Amelia revive Nora. Once she's up, both of you are going to help us distract the boss. Rika start casting, and we'll keep you safe." 

The girl nodded, concentrating as a soft outline of aura enveloped her. With mana coursing through her veins, she began channeling it into a spell. It sat in the palm of her hand, inconsequential right now, but rapidly growing. 

He punched me in the shoulder. "You set?" 

I sighed. "As I'll ever be." 

"That's the spirit!" 

And we took off. The two of us sped toward the dragon, which was beginning to stir. Forget the look of a caged animal, the thing looked straight-up feral at this point. Foam dripped from its mouth, its battered wings dragged along the ground, and something purple oozed from its chest. While it should have been on death's door, the dragon reared back and struck the ground with so much force that I stumbled. Ethan, with his higher agility stats, managed to retain his balance and reached the dragon first. 

"Hey, ugly. Over here." 

The dragon was on him before I could blink. My best friends successfully dodge the first strike, ducking underneath it. He also managed to sidestep a headbutt and a small burst of fire aimed in his general vicinity. What proved successful for the dragon once more was utilizing its tail. It impacted him in the chest, the spike plunging in easily against nothing but his bare flesh. He crumbled once the dragon peeled him off. 

"Run..." 

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be happening. I was heavy, an immovable tank class type. The best I could do was stand my ground and buy Rika some precious time. So, I did. My trusted broadsword was poised and ready against a horrifying monster. 

Well, it was called Monster Slayer for a reason. 

I couldn’t be sure who dealt the first blow, but my health bar diminished by more than a quarter when the dragon swiped me with its claws. I returned the blow with a slash to the foot. It growled and battered me again, taking another chunk of health and causing me to tumble over backward. I rolled to the side, making the dragon's jaw snap shut without me inside. It snorted, its smoky breath washing over me. The dragon raised its head up and prepared to make a second attempt. Too bad my stamina gauge was entirely depleted. 

Sorry, Rika. It seemed like I wasn't able to do much after all. 

A soft green glow surrounded me, and her words reached me just as it bent down. 

"Move!" 

Not needing Amelia to tell me twice, I rolled again and scrambled to my feet. It headbutted my chain mail, and I countered with a slash of my own against its chest. We continue to exchange blows, the monster clearly coming out on top of the exchange, but not quite able to tip the scale in its favor, thanks to Amelia healing me. At some point, Nora crept up next to me, and we shared the monster's attention. A fire breath at her, a swipe at me, and a heal from Amelia, the cycle repeated over and over. Until Amelia ran out of mana that was. 

It didn’t take long for it to realize, and the monster lashed out at me with its claws. My health bar was rapidly reduced to zero, and my body dropped to the ground, no longer within my control. Instead, I'd taken control of the avatar of my spirit. Since spirits had no combat potential outside of calling out attacks, I decided it was best to stay out of their way and not distract them since they already knew the patterns of the boss. I floated above the battlefield and observed Rika's progress. The sphere that had once been the size of a closed fist has grown to the size of a small house. 

Likely just in time too, as the dragon caught Nora in the middle of a sidestep and hurled her into the bone pit. The bugs swarmed around her, but she made no attempt to get up. The dragon took that as its cue to stalk toward the shaking priest. 

"Rika, it's now or never!" I shouted. 

The girl’s eyebrows narrowed in determination. "It's done! Amelia, get out of the way, so I don't hit you!" 

"Who cares? Just launch it already, damn it!" Nora snapped, her spirit hovering beside Rika. 

Needing no more convincing, the mage hurled the huge sphere of energy at the dragon. It pulsed once before detonating into an explosion that engulfed everything in a blinding light. Shielding my eyes did nothing, so I watched on blinded, unable to see the outcome. When my vision was restored, the classic victory music resonated around us, along with heaps of confetti. My spirit returned to my body, but I remained laying down in the dirt, too exhausted to move. My heart was still racing, and my hands shook beside me. 

The others freely celebrate, however. I tilted my head to watch them race to each other, in front of the already degrading corpse of the dragon. 

"We did it!" cheered Amelia, pulling Nora into a hug. 

"Get off of me!" The girl’s protest fell on deaf ears as the blonde gripped her tighter. 

Ethan wrapped his arms around them. "Can't believe we managed to pull it off." He looked over the heads of the blushing girls. "We couldn't have done it without you, Rika." 

She glared at him. "Don't think you're getting off the hook that easily. I'm still not happy about you tricking me. Although, I'm glad we won." The girl reached out a hand to me. "You were pretty good back there." 

I grabbed it, and she hauled me to my feet with a sharp tug. "It's only because of Amelia that I could hold him off so long." 

"You really need to learn to take a compliment." She took my gauntlet in hand and pulled me over to the others. The nice, little group hug they had going on was broken apart, and they were staring at the treasure chest left behind where the dragon used to be. 

Ethan pumped a fist. "Wonder what we got?" 

"I hope it's something good," Amelia said. 

Nora snorted. "It better be after all we went through." 

I was pushed forward, and I scowled at the girl who did it; she whistled innocently. 

"You're going to grab it?" Ethan asked. 

"Sure," I answered, already making my way over to it. I kneeled before it and flipped the latch. Then, I lifted the heavy wooden top up and peered inside. 

I should've known it would be something like this. 

I held it up for the group to see. They looked decidedly unimpressed, Rika going so far as to burst into laughter. 

"You've gotta be shitting me," Nora grumbled. "All that work for an obsidian horn?" 

I couldn’t help but agree. Nonetheless, I threw it to Rika who caught it with a puzzled expression. "For saving us. We better log out now. Lunch is almost over." 

Ethan held up a hand towards the girls. "Would you all mind staying logged in a minute longer? I have something I want to talk to him about super fast." 

The others nodded, and both of us logged out, disappearing in a torrent of light. 

____________ 

I yanked the headset off my head and glanced around, blinking the bleariness away. It always takes me a moment to get used to the real world again. Guess that shows how far virtual reality has progressed. 

The girls still had their VR headsets on, but Ethan, propped against the same wall as me, stretched his arms out in front of him and smiled. "You had fun, I take it?" 

"I guess so." 

"Great." He clapped me on the back, something that seemed to be becoming a bad habit of his. "Then, you should eat lunch with us tomorrow." 

"Don't you think Amelia and Nora would have something to say about that?" 

He stared at me like I had a few screws loose. "Why would they? It's not like you're strangers anymore." 

"It's not like we're friends either though." 

"Yeah, but it's like the Romans used to say: friends aren't built in a day. Besides, I know they'd enjoy having you at lunch, and I would too." 

Pretty sure the expression was Rome wasn't built in a day, but I supposed it didn’t matter. I never could argue against his unique brand of logic. 

"Fine," I mumbled.